Production Lighting: Hard Light vs. Soft Light

Production lighting depends greatly on the difference between
hard light and soft light. Most scenes will employ both types of
illumination, and understanding the theory will help your decisions.

Hard Light

Hard light is referred to as such because it creates crisp and harsh
shadows. As far as fixtures go, any conventional film lamp is going to
produce hard light. Though there is a difference between a Fresnel light
and an open face light, if you point either directly at a person, the
shadows on his face will be distinct. The reason is that light is being
projected along a narrow path. The stream of light goes strictly in one
direction until it hits the person's face. Therefore, no light reaches
around the nose to fill in the shadow.

Soft Light

Soft light wraps three-dimensional objects, thus creating gentler
shadows. There are soft sources that find a lot of use on film sets
today. Kino Flos and LED panels create light coming from a wide spread
of source. Rather than projecting light in a direct, narrow beam, these
lights send light in all directions. So when the light reaches the
person's face, some of it is coming in at a different angle and can wrap
into the shadows behind the person's nose.

Fresnel vs Open Face

As mentioned earlier, though open faced units are commonly referred
to as soft sources, they generally create hard light. Nonetheless, there
are soft light theories involved in their construction. A fresnel light
is constructed with a light bulb that has a fresnel lens in front of
it. This lens harnesses the power of the light and focuses it into a
beam. The spot/flood function moves the light bulb closer or farther
from the lens to change the width of the beam. An open faced light has
no lens. It merely has a light bulb that is surrounded by a silver
backing. This backing reflects all the light coming from the back of the
light bulb. You now have light shooting in several directions as it
would from a soft light source, but at this degree it retains its hard
quality.

Softening Sources

Though you do have access to soft sources such as Kino Flos and LED
panels, there are ways to soften your hard sources. These methods
generally yield a more natural effect than soft light units. The first
method is to bounce the light. Point the unit away from the subject,
then put a white card in front of it. This card reflects the light into a
large span of very gentle light. You can also simply add diffusion to
the front of your unit. A white gel will scatter the stream of light as
it passes through. These theories can be applied any number of ways to
soften your sources.

Hard and soft light have different qualities to offer. Each will be
useful in your lighting designs.